Michael Irvin's ESPN future remained publicly status quo Tuesday. He's penciled in for a regularly scheduled appearance in Sunday's NFL studio., Williamson said: "Right now we take Michael at his word. And we're there to deal with him as he deals with this."

Irvin is dealing with the aftermath of having been charged Friday with a misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia after police pulled him over for speeding in Plano, Texas, and found a drug pipe in his car.

Irvin, on ESPN and ESPN Radio, has said he had the pipe because he'd taken it from a friend who'd just gotten out of drug rehab and was going to throw it away. No other public charges have been made against Irvin, who paid the $250 misdemeanor fine.

Irvin probably didn't make brownie points with ESPN managers, who learned about the incident Sunday from a reporter pursuing the story, by not giving them a heads-up.

Williamson declines to generalize about what types of drug incidents, if any, could cost ESPN announcers their jobs: "I will tell you, philosophically, that on any personnel matter it's handled on a case-by-case basis."

The Indianapolis Colts' win against the Pittsburgh Steelers drew an average of 14.8 percent of U.S. TV households. That is "MNF's" highest rating since a St. Louis Rams-Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2000 game and puts "MNF's" ratings up 2 percent over last year. Although "MNF "often sets a new ratings low each year, albeit as one of TV's highest-rated shows, it might leave ABC this season after a rare ratings uptick.